HOKUSAI KATSUSHIKA, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji no. 88, 1836-1847

Stunning proof with good contrasts, attributable to the print run of Eirakuya Tōshirō (mid-19th century) from the original woods of the Egawa workshop. Printed on Japanese paper, in excellent condition, with original untrimmed margins beyond the marginal line.

Annotated Bibliography
H.D. Smith II, Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji, New York: George Braziller, 1988
M. Forrer, Hokusai, London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1991
M. Forrer, Hokusai, New York: Rizzoli, 1988
M. Forrer, Hokusai: Prints and Drawings, Munich: Prestel, 1991
G.C. Calza, Hokusai: The Old Madman of Painting, Milan 1999-2000, London 2003
G.C. Calza, Hokusai: The One Hundred Views of Fuji, Milan: Editoriale Nuova, 1982
J. Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration, London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1980
J. Hillier, L. Smith, Japanese Prints: 300 Years of Albums and Books, London: British Museum Publications, 1980
R.S. Keyes, Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan, New York: George Braziller, 2006
T. Clark (ed.), Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave, London: British Museum Press, 2017
M. Forrer, W.R. van Gulik, Hokusai and His School: Paintings, Drawings and Illustrated Books, Leiden: Society for Japanese Arts and Crafts, 1991
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78803

Commentary
A signaling rocket cuts through the sky above Mount Fuji, isolated and slender, resembling a serpent-like creature or a dragon of smoke rising only to retreat back into the crevices of the mountain. This is not a firework intended for display, like those that animated summer evenings on the Sumida, but a military signaling rocket. Rockets of this type were regularly used during military maneuvers that took place every year at the end of summer at the mouth of the Sumida River, under the auspices of the shōgunate, and it is precisely this context that the scene seems to evoke.
In the foreground, along the shore, some fishermen are busy burning the bottom of their boat with pine torches, a traditional practice aimed at preserving the wood from moisture and marine rot. Around them, nets appear to be drying, their dark profiles taking the shape of small triangular peaks, allusively recalling the silhouette of Fuji itself and creating a subtle play of formal references within the composition.
According to the interpretation proposed by Suzuki, the setting could be identified with Tsukudajima, the small fishing island located at the mouth of the Sumida: the houses visible on the left and below would support this reading. However, if it truly is Tsukudajima, Hokusai grants himself considerable poetic license, transforming the low marine dikes into steep and dramatic cliffs, to the point that the real place would be hardly recognizable. Once again, topographical precision gives way to a symbolic vision, in which daily activities, military allusions, and transformations of the landscape contribute to constructing a dense and evocative image of Fuji and the world surrounding it.